5K in 20 days...

Why did I decide to do a 5K in less than a month? I am wondering...

#1: There is a 5K fundraiser on September 24th to help my cousin Katie and her family. Her husband was almost killed last February and amazingly has recovered but they have huge medical bills

#2: When I read the fundraiser info it occured to me that hmmm...didn't I set a resolution to run a 5K this year? I am not a stickler on resolutions but I figured what a great reason to go for it...I also set a resolution to kick Rob's butt in pool but neither of us have played this year:)

#3: I wouldn't mind losing 10 lbs this month and thought jogging 6 days a week will probably get me there. We don't have a scale at our house so I don't watch the numbers but I have decided that I would like to lose what I like to call "Elasti-girl" look. On "The Incredibles"  the mom (Elastic-girl) catches a glimpse of her post baby butt/hips in the mirror and notices it is more than it used to be:)The scale on the Wii fit says my weight is back to my original college weight, but maybe the weight all shifted around to my hips with each pregnancy....

#4: I need the natural serotonin and really felt like something needed to change with my mood. This 5K came around and I knew it would benefit me in a lot of ways. I have been really anxious, more down than up, and feeling insecure, and I have been off of meds for almost 4 years now and I feel like I need to try all natural ways before I will go back to meds. When I am out there jogging I really feel great, and energized....


When I say I feel great I mean mentally mostly because right now I am still pretty crappy physically. But I had a really successful run tonight and I was super excited. I tried following the couch to 5k program which is  a 2 mth program and I only had 24 days. So I figured I take there 3 days of jogging and take it to 5-6 days and increase the numbers to what I can handle than I will be ready. My sister says it will be easy but she is training for a half marathon right now, so running this 5K is nothing for her:)

 The program says to start walking 4 minutes than jog for 90 seconds. I walked 2 minutes and jogged 2 minutes. The first 3 days I did that and got pretty discouraged because I was not breathing well, and barely making it the 2 minutes. Yesterday was the worst so far and I started to wonder if I can do this. I went out again today though feeling good and walked 2 minutes to warm up then jogged 7 minutes and felt great! It isn't huge for a skilled runner but for me dying at 2 minutes the day before I was so grateful that I could do 7 minutes. Then I walked fast for a minute to get my breathing steady and went again for 4 minutes, then rest for 1 then 4 again, then cooled down for 2.  I jsut need to get teh jogging times longer and eliminate the walking in between. I felt hot and sweaty but my body and breathing felt great when I made it home. My mood was great and I was so grateful to have a good day to keep my hopes up that I can do this in 20 days!